(NewsNation) — More than 5,600 employees with the U.S. Agency for International Development who have been fired or placed on leave as part of the Trump administration’s dismantling of the agency have been given a 15-minute window to clear their workspaces.
USAID employees were notified Tuesday that they would be able to gather their belongings Thursday and Friday.
A majority of employees were placed on administrative leave and blocked from getting to their offices and in USAID systems. More than 4,000 employees who worked across the world were notified that they were on leave as part of a reduction in force affecting 1,600 additional employees.
It comes after notices were sent out to terminate 90% of USAID’s contracts and after the Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked a federal judge’s order for the Trump administration to release billions of dollars in blocked U.S. foreign aid.
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USAID has been one of the biggest targets of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, who have said the agency is corrupt and claimed to have found instances of wasteful and fraudulent payments.
The Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal government have brought forth various lawsuits, but each court challenge to temporarily halt USAID’s shutdown has been unsuccessful.
One USAID worker who was furloughed was at the agency’s headquarters said she isn’t sure what lies ahead.
“I felt like we made a difference,” Juliane Alfen said. “To see everything disappearing before our eyes in a matter of weeks is very scary to me and depressing.”
